New Prusa MK3s+ with Ghosting issues on X-axis from the start

Hello,

I'm new to 3D printing, and having issues with a newly assembled Prusa MK3s+ printer.
After assembling my printer and running through the basic calibration tests, I started printing some models I found online and sliced with PrusaSlicer default settings. I noticed that my prints were leaving ripples around certain features and not others. After some Googling, I learned about "ghosting" and went to troubleshooting. I started printing this file https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:277394/files sliced in PrusaSlicer with the default PLA settings, using the silver PLA filament that came with my Prusa kit. After printing this model, I realized that the ghosting was isolated for the most part to the X-axis.


So far, I have tried:

-Adjusting the tension on both the X and Y axis belt to ~250, this had no effect on the ghosting
-Adjusting print speed to 50% helped a little (ripples were closer together, but ghosting was still very noticeable)
-Moving the printer to a more stable surface (Using a 1.5 inch thick aluminum plate machined flat, on top of foam) had no effect
-Printing with the printer on the ground, had no effect
-I reduced the maximum acceleration on both the x and y axis in PrusaSlicer to 50% of the default (500 mm/s^2) had no effect
-I reduced the maximum jerk on both the x and y axis in PrusaSlicer to 50% of the default value (4mm/s) had no effect
-I reduced the speed for external perimeters to 15 mm/s and the perimeter acceleration to 400 mm/s^2 (50% default value)
-I loosened the back cover the the x-axis assembly that covers the bearings had no effect

Lastly, I sliced the same test model using Cura instead of PrusaSlicer, this had a dramatic effect on the print quality, and all but eliminated the ghosting on the side of the cube that has "X" on it. There was ghosting present on the side of the cube that has the round impressions on the X-axis though.

Because of the last test with the model sliced in Cura, I'm hoping that there is just something in the PrusaSlicer settings that I need to adjust, and not something wrong the printer itself. I keep getting told that PrusaSlicer defaults are pretty good and shouldn't be giving me issues like this.



This is all very new to me and I'd appreciate any advice with this.

That's bizarre. We've been using Prusa Slicer and a MK3 for years with mostly default settings (tweak some parameters now and then, but nothing like what you're doing) and it's been 100% bulletproof.

Maybe delete the slicer entirely and reinstall?

First of all, was there a significant different in the actual time (not estimated) that it took to make the two prints? Cura may be slowing it down. On a print that small it may be hard to tell because it will likely not even reach max speed.
I would go through all the speed settings in your cura profile and make a matching profile in prusa and see if that works

LOTT said:

That's bizarre. We've been using Prusa Slicer and a MK3 for years with mostly default settings (tweak some parameters now and then, but nothing like what you're doing) and it's been 100% bulletproof.

Maybe delete the slicer entirely and reinstall?

Click to expand...

I gave this a shot and unfortunately it didn't make any difference.

APD said:

First of all, was there a significant different in the actual time (not estimated) that it took to make the two prints? Cura may be slowing it down. On a print that small it may be hard to tell because it will likely not even reach max speed.
I would go through all the speed settings in your cura profile and make a matching profile in prusa and see if that works

Click to expand...

There was not a significant difference in print time -

PrusaSlicer printed the part in about 48 minutes.
Cura printed the part in about 52 minutes.

Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the part printed in Cura had 3 outside layers, and PrusaSlicer had only 2.

The model that was sliced in Cura still had the rippling effect, just in different places. I've noticed this on other prints that I've done where I printed the same model sliced in Cura and PrusaSlicer. The ghosting just moves to another spot.

check your line width and number of walls. Its nice to have wall thickness that is a multiple of your line width (0.4 x 3 walls = 1.3mm wall thickness)
What is your infill percentage
4 minutes may not seem like much time, but its almost 10% longer. Probably because of the extra perimeter.
the thinner walls of the prusa print may be resonating more and causing the ringing.
In Klipper we have an input shaper function that compensates for resonant frequencies. I dont know if you can do it in Marlin
Try forcing prusa slicer to use 3 walls, and see if that changes it.

APD said:

check your line width and number of walls. Its nice to have wall thickness that is a multiple of your line width (0.4 x 3 walls = 1.3mm wall thickness)
What is your infill percentage
4 minutes may not seem like much time, but its almost 10% longer. Probably because of the extra perimeter.
the thinner walls of the prusa print may be resonating more and causing the ringing.
In Klipper we have an input shaper function that compensates for resonant frequencies. I dont know if you can do it in Marlin
Try forcing prusa slicer to use 3 walls, and see if that changes it.

Click to expand...

I find the slicer is happier when your wall thickness is ever so slightly larger than a multiple of your line width. 0.01mm is generally enough to take care of the math errors that can come up and gives more sensible toolpaths.

You can post your issue on the Prusa member's site for help:


Ted